"Roar, Burakkujagā!" yelled the shinigami as a Hollow leaped out at her, claws outstretched and masked jaws opening wide. In terror, she realized that it was too late to use the power of her zanpakutou. The Hollow was almost upon her, it's acidic drool slid out of it's mouth, burning the asphalt beneath. All of a sudden, there was a loud piercing scream. Karin Kurosaki looked up to see the Hollow split in half from head to toe, disintegrating into black matter from the wound outwards.

"Well, I'm glad we got that taken care of," said a high pitched voice from behind Karin. Quickly, she spun around, wanting to see who her savior was. There stood a pale-faced, trembling Hanataro, who looked like he was about to faint,

"Hanataro! Are you okay? You don't look so good," remarked Karin. At that, the skinny boy pulled himself together, sheathing his sword.

"Oh, that's okay, I'm fine," he tried to reassure her, despite the fact that he was wobbling on his feet. "I'm supposed to be healing you right now…um, sorry what was your name, I can't seem to remember seeing you in the Soul Society before," he contemplated. Then, suddenly, as if hit by lightning, he hollered, his voice cracking all the while, "WAIT! HOW DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" and promptly fainted, falling towards the ground. Karin sighed as she caught the lightweight, propping him on a nearby fountain. Jeez, he can't even recognize me from Ichi-nii's graduation party a few weeks ago. To herself, she muttered, "What a loser."

"Karin-chan! There's no need to be so mean!" scolded a sopping wet Yuzu. "The water's so cold, why did you make me hide in the fountain, Karin-chan?"

"Because, there was a Hollow, I told you that just a few minutes ago."

"Oh no! You're hurt!" yelled Yuzu, immediately launching her petite frame toward her twin. She fretted over Karin's minor scrapes and bruises, even with Karin trying to wave her off in flyswatting motions with her right hand.

"Oi! What's going on here?" demanded a grumpy, familiar voice. Karin and Yuzu both turned to see a young man, with snow white hair and cold, shadowy-blue eyes glaring at the twins and Hanataro.

"Oh! It's Hitsugaya-kun! Did you come here to finally ask Karin-chan's hand in marriage?" she said with her eyes full of hope and excitement.

"HELL NO!" both Karin and Toshiro yelled at her, with deep scarlet blushes on their cheeks. They glanced at each other, surprised they had spoken-or rather, yelled-at the same time.

As Karin took a peek at Toshiro, she noticed that he was taller than before. Now he was at least two inches taller than her, at the most. His shoulders and torso were broader than the last time they had seen each other. and for a second, she admired the way that his shirt tightened across his chest until he uncrossed his arms and started walking towards them. She looked away quickly, trying not too think too much about how much he had changed from adorable to sexy in the past three years they hadn't seen each other.

"I came over here as fast as I could when I sensed a Hollow. Sorry I couldn't get here fast enough." he monotonously intoned,

"That's okay. Do you have a place to stay tonight?" Karin asked, brushing off his apology. He made a disgusted face, saying, "I was going to stay at Inoue's with Matsumoto."

A horrified look crossed Yuzu's face. "No!" she simply yelled. As the black-haired beauty and the snowy prince turned to gawk at her she said with her fist in the air and determination in her eyes, "No! If you are to marry with Karin-chan, we must be hospitable future in-laws and let you stay in our home instead!" As Toshiro opened his mouth in protest, Karin slapped a cupped hand over his lips. "Shh, don't talk, just follow what I do." she whispered to him. immediately, Toshiro thought of all the sex fantasies and dreams he had had of Karin saying those very words to him, causing him to reflexively slap her hand away in embarrassment. He blushed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to-" he was cut off by Karin's held back giggles.

"Sorry for laughing, Toshiro, your face was way to funny," she smiled at him. He felt his heart rate quicken even more because of her smile. Suddenly, he turned tail and sprinted away from the fountain, pausing to bend over and pick something up into his arms.

"Hey! That's my body, you pervert!" Karin yelled, shunpoing after him.

"But Karin-chan, he's already going to take your body anyways," said Yuzu, feeling abandoned and alone. But as she stood in the lonely silence, she heard a rustling and a strange moaning, whining sound from behind her. She whirled around, swinging her fist the way Tatsuki and Karin had taught her so that it hit the attacker right in the face. The force of the blow caused the shady man to splash into the fountain, unconcious. With a horrified start, Yuzu realized that she had just punched Hanataro, who was lying belly- up in the water, with a dazed expression on his face. Oh no! I just killed him! I killed Hanataro-kun!